Mt. Rushmore: A National Memorial
By: VS Grenier
Imagine climbing 700 steps to reach the top of your school or your house. That’s how many steps you would have climbed each day while working on one of America’s biggest memorials, Mt. Rushmore.
People from all over travel to see the faces of four U.S. presidents carved into the mountain, in the Black Hills of South Dakota: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). These four U.S. presidents were selected because of the struggles they overcame in the United States during their presidency, such as the fight for independence, the idea of a government by the people and for the people, the fight for equality and permanent union as a country, and, of course, America’s 20th century role in world affairs.
Mt. Rushmore is more than what the three million visitors come to marvel at each year. As visitors gaze at the majestic beauty South Dakota has to offer, they learn about the birth of our country, what we fought for, why we value our freedoms, and the preservation of the United States.
So how did this carving on Mt. Rushmore come to be? It all started on August 10, 1927, by the 60-year-old artist Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers. The project in the side of Mt. Rushmore took 14 years to complete. That’s a long time! However, only six and one-half years were actually spent carving the mountainside. Weather delays and the lack of money are why the project took so long.
The 14-year project to carve just four faces into the side the of Mt. Rushmore cost a total of $900,000. In today’s money that would be just over 11 million dollars. Can you imagine how many toys, video games, and books you could buy with that much money? Wow!
The Mt. Rushmore project came to an end in 1941 when the artist, Gutzon Borglum, died. During the time Borglum worked on Mt. Rushmore, more than 800 million pounds of stone were removed, mostly by blasting away the granite with dynamite. Luckily, no one died working on the Mt. Rushmore project.
If you ever get a chance to visit Mt. Rushmore, one of the most spectacular things to do is watch the evening lighting ceremony. As each presidents’ head, which stand about as tall as a six-story building, is lit up . . . you can feel the power of their love and dedication for their country. These four U.S. presidents' granite faces will watch over the United States from the side of Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota for a long time.
Mt. Rushmore reminds all those who come to visit about America’s fight for freedom and our hope for many around the world.
Fun Facts from
http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm:
Did You Know?
· The president's noses are 20 feet long, their mouths 18 feet wide, and their eyes are 11 feet across.
· Mount Rushmore was named after a New York City Attorney. Charles E. Rushmore, on his way back to Pine Camp, asked Bill Challis the name of the mountain. Bill replied, "Never had a name but from now on we'll call it Rushmore."
· The figure of Thomas Jefferson was started on Washington's right? After 18 months of carving, the figure of Jefferson had to be dynamited off the mountain and restarted on the left of Washington.
· The erosion rate of Mount Rushmore National Memorial is estimated by geologists at 1 inch every 10,000 years? It should be around for many years to come.
Photograph Copyright © 2009 Wikipedia Commons
Copyright © 2009 by VS Grenier